A Matter of State
by Rolling Tomorrow
Summary: Gaius was new to the throne of Auj Oule and many adjustments had to be made to the castle now that it was under his reign. There were just some things that Wingul couldn't leave in the king's hands.


A Matter of State

"This is completely unacceptable."

As the king's advisor, it was Wingul's responsibly to always be honest with Gaius. Despite that, he was an intelligent, or more aptly, brilliant man who approached the things he disagreed with the most with a level head and logical counter argument. He knew that such an approach was often more effective. It was very unlike him to be so blunt and short about something.

"Are you trying to veto this?" Gaius asked evenly.

"I am. This is absurd," Wingul said.

"It doesn't meet your standards as a former prince?" he asked, earning a particularly cold glare.

"Do you think _anyone_ would stand for this?" Wingul demanded as he motioned to the bed.

"It will have to do, unless you want to reuse some of Melard's things."

"_No_," he said pointedly.

The royal bed was in the middle of the king's chambers, standing between the finest white oak headboards that the former king cold afford. Many things left behind by the former King Melard were more extravagant than need be, as the royal had very expensive tastes. The new mattress was something Wingul insisted upon, but he had left the bedding up to the servants, as it was something that he assumed was simple enough for them not to mess up.

What he didn't know at the time of making that assumption was that Gaius had already spoken to the servants about it. And since Gaius barely felt the cold, he was the last person to make decisions on blankets.

"It's hardly unreasonable, did you see the size of the fire place in this room?" he asked.

"Did you see the thickness of the ice on the window?" he countered.

The maid cast fearful looks between the new king and his advisor. She clutched a folded curtain to her chest nervously, looking quite ready to run away. She awaited orders, though she seemed thoroughly perplexed as to why the king's advisor had any say in _this_.

Gaius had to admit that he made a fair argument. "The room is plenty warm."

"It is not warm enough to justify _one sheet_ on the bed," he said as he crossed his arms.

"Fine. Then it'll just take more bedding to make this acceptable to you?"

Wingul cast him a withered look for his voice of words. "And make sure the blankets are thick."

"Of course, Prince Lin."

"And that they've been laundered since we got Melard out of here," he added, ignoring Gaius' sarcasm.

The king turned to the servant and nodded toward Wingul. "Please follow his orders."

With so many more important matters requiring his attention, Wingul stalked off and out of the room. He disappeared out the door with the purposeful, professional stride of a king's right hand who had more important things to deal with than bed covers. The maid bowed and was about to follow him, but Gaius had a few words of his own orders for her as well.

~oOo~

With the capital of Auj Oule so newly under their control, they were both kept ridiculously busy until late hours of the night. Gaius finally retired around two in the morning and Wingul trudged toward the king's quarters just over half an hour later. It felt odd to walk the inner halls of the castle as a conquerer rather than a guest, but he knew the feeling would fade before long. It still felt like it had been a very, very long time since he lived in a castle for anything more than a few nights between military campaigns.

The king's quarters were at one of the highest areas of the castle. They were positioned to be nearly impossible to reach from the outside, allowing the chambers to have windows that were not a security risk. He found the door left unlocked for him and sighed, planning on reprimanding Gaius for leaving it so unprotected until he saw the bed. He narrowed his eyes in the dim light shed by the few candles that remained lit and went over to inspect the bedding.

The sheet was accompanied by one blanket. One.

"I thought you said you'd be along right after me?" Gaius asked as he rounded the corner of the office connected to the royal chambers.

"There was something else I had to take care of," he said dismissively. "Why is there only one blanket?"

"It's a down comfortable, it's the warmest they have," Gaius said. "Brand new, never touched by Melard."

"And there's only one."

"Are you really going to argue about this?" he asked tiredly.

"Three would be reasonable," Wingul said.

"That is far too many."

King and advisor stared at each other, both firm on their opposing positions, for several moments. Gaius gave up and was the first to suggest compromise, even if only because it was ridiculous for them to be arguing about _blankets_. It was even more absurd considering how shortly removed they were from fighting to capture the castle.

"Would you be satisfied with two?" Gaius asked.

"I suppose that would be acceptable until the temperatures drop."

Gaius didn't like the way the ambiguous wording promised that the argument would come up again. "Then we have an agreement?"

"We do," he said. "But isn't there anything else for tonight?"

"Not unless you want something Melard slept on," Gaius said dryly.

"I would rather choke on a Chirpee feather."

Gaius took a step forward and wrapped his arms around him. "Then you'll just have to stay close to keep warm tonight."

The embrace was still tight, despite his fatigue. It was Wingul's first thought to ask if all the servant entrances were locked, but silently rested his head against Gaius' shoulder instead. The first few nights since seizing the castle scarcely left any time to rest, let alone find any time to be in each other's company away from prying eyes. It was too late at night and they had too little time together to keep worrying about trifles.

* * *

><p>Author's Note:<p>

For Athena!

You said you had that image of them arguing over how many blankets are needed and…yes…this derpy, derpy fic was born sometime after 2 AM.


End file.
